Stock Market & Financial Investment News

Morgan Stanley says continuing to respond to subpoenas, requests for informationMorgan Stanley said in a filing that it is continuing to respond to subpoenas and requests for information from certain federal and state regulatory and governmental entities, including among others various members of the RMBS Working Group of the Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force, concerning the origination, financing, purchase, securitization and servicing of subprime and non-subprime residential mortgages and related matters such as residential mortgages backed securities, collateralized debt obligations, structured investment vehicles and credit default swaps backed by or referencing mortgage pass through certificates. These matters include, but are not limited to, investigations related to the companyís due diligence on loans that it purchased for securitization, the companyís communications with ratings agencies, the companyís disclosures to investors, and the Companyís handling of servicing and foreclosure related issues. On May 8, the California Attorney Generalís Office, which is one of the members of the RMBS Working Group, indicated that it has made certain preliminary conclusions that the Company made knowing and material misrepresentations regarding RMBS and that it knowingly caused material misrepresentations to be made regarding the Cheyne SIV, which issued securities marketed to the California Public Employees Retirement System. The CAAG has further indicated that it believes the companyís conduct violated California law and that it may seek treble damages, penalties and injunctive relief. The company does not agree with these conclusions and has presented defenses to them to the CAAG. On July 23, the U.S. SEC approved the companyís Offer of Settlement to resolve the SECís investigation of certain subprime RMBS transactions sponsored and underwritten by the company in 2007. Pursuant to the settlement, the company was charged with violating Sections 17(a)(2) and 17(a)(3) of the Securities Act, agreed to pay disgorgement and penalties in an amount of $275M and neither admitted nor denied the SECís findings.

U.S. banks prepared to take advantage of Euro lenders' cautions, WSJ saysU.S. banks are preparing to advance in the sector after reporting earnings, with executives touting the gloom coming from their European counterparts as a major opportunity to capitalize on their newfound advantage, the Wall Street Journal reports. On Thursday, Deutsche Bank (DB) CEO John Cryan said that the company must "shrink" its balance sheet, while Barclays (BCS) chairman John McFarlane said that Wall Street lenders are "an enormous threat" to Euro investment banks, the report says. On the other hand, Morgan Stanley (MS) chairman James Gorman said after reporting earnings last week that the company is poised to advanced in the debt trading sector, and that "there's a potential for, over a period of time, share gain for our business," the report says. In addition, Goldman Sachs finance chief Harvey Schwartz said that the company is "seeing potential big restructuring on the European side," the report adds. Publicly traded companies in the European space include Banco Santander (SAN), Barclays (BCS), Credit Suisse (CS), Deutsche Bank (DB), HSBC (HSBC), ING Groep (ING), Lloyds Banking (LYG), RBS (RBS) and UBS (UBS). Publicly traded companies in the U.S. space include Bank of America (BAC), Citi (C), Goldman Sachs (GS), JPMorgan (JPM), Morgan Stanley (MS), U.S. Bancorp (USB) and Wells Fargo (WFC). Reference Link

Banks pitch total-return swaps as stock purchase alternative, WSJ reportsBanks have been pitching certain hedge fund clients on using derivatives instead of actual stocks when placing certain bets in an effort to lessen the impact of new capital rules on the banks' businesses, the Wall Street Journal reports, citing people familiar with the efforts. The shift involves derivatives known as total-return swaps that mirror the effects of owning a stock or other asset, the report says. Units of Bank of America (BAC), Goldman Sachs (GS), JPMorgan Chase (JPM), Morgan Stanley (MS), and UBS (UBS) are among the banks asking clients to shift trades into total-return swaps instead of underlying securities, the report says. Reference Link

Symphony Communication eyes $1B funding round, WSJ reportsSymphony Communication Services, an instant-messaging software company backed by Wall Street firms including Goldman Sachs (GS), is eyeing an investment round that may value it at as much as $1B, the Wall Street Journal reports, citing people familiar with the matter. The startup is canvassing a range of possible new investors, including venture-capital funds and additional financial firms, the report says. Symphony also wants funds from its existing backers, including Goldman, Morgan Stanley (MS), JPMorgan Chase (JPM), and BlackRock (BLK), the report says. Reference Link

Morgan Stanley price target raised to $46 from $40 at BMO CapitalBMO Capital raised its price target on Morgan Stanley after the company reported higher than expected core Q2 EPS. The firm says that all of the company's segments delivered results that beat expectations. The firm raised its annual EPS estimates for the company by 2% and keeps an Outperform rating on the shares.

On The Fly: Top stock stories at middayStocks on Wall Street were slightly higher at midday in the first trading day of a week that will be light on domestic economic data but heavy on earnings reports. Investors will be receiving profit reports from about 25% of the companies on the S&P 500 this week, making this the highest volume earnings week of this season. ECONOMIC EVENTS: In the U.S., no major data was released. In Europe, Greece reopened its banks three weeks after closing as the country worked out another bailout agreement. The country announced it has started the process of paying off its creditors, including the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund, with a bridge loan it just received. COMPANY NEWS: Lockheed Martin (LMT) agreed to buy the Sikorsky Aircraft business from United Technologies (UTX) for $9B, noting the price is "effectively reduced" to $7.1B after taking into account tax benefits resulting from the transaction. Shares of Lockheed, which also reported better than expected second quarter results and increased its fiscal year guidance, gained nearly 2% after the Sikorsky announcement and saying it will conduct a strategic review of its government IT infrastructure services business and technical services business... Shares of Morgan Stanley (MS) shares were little changed near noon after the bank reported earnings and revenue, excluding certain adjustments, that topped analysts' consensus forecasts... SunEdison (SUNE) announced a deal to acquire Vivint Solar (VSLR) for approximately $2.2B, payable in a combination of cash, shares of SunEdison common stock and SunEdison convertible notes. In connection with the proposed acquisition of Vivint Solar, SunEdison has entered into a definitive purchase agreement with a subsidiary of TerraForm Power (TERP) which, concurrently with the completion of SunEdison's acquisition of Vivint, will acquire Vivint Solar's rooftop solar portfolio, consisting of 523 MW expected to be installed by year-end 2015, for $922M in cash. Shares of Vivint rose 44% following the announcement, while SunEdison's stock gained 4% and TerraForm dropped 3%. Fellow residential solar installer SolarCity (SCTY), which is backed by Tesla's (TSLA) Elon Musk, rose 7% following the deal in the space. MAJOR MOVERS: Among the notable gainers was Exelixis (EXEL), which rallied 43% after the company reported that a study of cabozantinib in metastatic renal cell carcinoma met its primary endpoint of significant improvement in progression-free survival. The shares were indicated to rise even more in early pre-market trading, but lost some of their gains after Bristol-Myers (BMY) announced that its Opdivo study was stopped early after showing superior overall survival in a Phase 3 study of previously treated patients with advanced or metastatic renal cell carcinoma. Bristol-Myers rose a bit less than 1% to trade near $70 per share after its own announcement. Also higher was PayPal (PYPL), which gained more than 5.5% in its first day of trading after being spun out of eBay (EBAY). Meanwhile, eBay shares rose over 2%. Cal-Maine Foods (CALM) dropped 8% after posting lower than expected sales and profits in its fourth quarter and warning that while it should have an adequate supply of its primary feed ingredients, the company expects that prices will be "volatile" in the year ahead. Also lower were shares of several gold miners, including Barrick Gold (ABX) and Newmont Mining (NEM), which each fell about 11%, as gold prices declined about 2% near midday. INDEXES: Near midday, the Dow was up 31.66, or 0.18%, to 18,118.11, the Nasdaq was up 9.81, or 0.19%, to 5,219.96, and the S&P 500 was up 2.82, or 0.13%, to 2,129.46.

Morgan Stanley CFO: Retail investor activity yet to increase from subdued levelsMorgan Stanley CFO Jonathan Pruzan said the firm's view on Wealth Management remains positive as the recovery plays out in the U.S., with growth expected to come from its bank strategy and fee-based program. "We continue to see softness in transactional revenues, which were down 8% compared to last quarter as retail investor activity has yet to increase from subdued levels," Pruzan added.